Endangered plants

Thrity was invited by the directors of the Botanical Gardens Conservation International, and Naples Botanical Garden, to the Botanical Bridges Congress 2022, at The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, a 30 acre world-class, botanic garden in Governor’s Harbor Eleuthera Island, Bahamas. It is a showcase of native and endemic Bahamian plants and is the first and only national park on the island. Thrity’s presentation at the congress highlighted the history and forestry work at Las Casas, including the last two years of work with critically endangered endemic species. There were 50 participants from 26 Botanical Gardens and institutions, representing 11 countries and territories, a gathering to improve global collaboration.

Here is 3t’s photo album of the trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JGPBqnmxetVGTKECA

Huge thanks to Joachim Gratzfeld, BGCI Regional Programmes Director; Chad Washburn, Director, Naples Botanical Garden, Florida; Noelia Alvarez, BGCI Plant Conservation Project Manager, for arranging and sponsoring Thrity’s trip.

META ABSTRACT: TREE CONSERVATION SESSIONS
Prioritise, plan, act and monitor – promoting an integrated approach to threatened tree conservation

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) promotes a holistic, integrated approach to the conservation and management of plant diversity. The ultimate aim of BGCI’s Tree Conservation Program is that no tree species become extinct. A coordinated, integrated approach to global tree conservation is needed, as the State of the World’s Trees, published in 2021 indicates that almost 30% of all tree species are threatened with extinction. BGCI’s Tree Conservation Program is integrating threatened tree conservation through four actions – prioritise, plan, act and monitor – to protect the world’s tree species from extinction with partners worldwide. In this session, we will showcase the varied approaches used to further the conservation of tree species.

PRIORITISE

Effective tree conservation requires information and tools to guide and prioritise action. The Global Tree Assessment is an initiative to assess the conservation status of all the world’s tree species, led by Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group. Here we present the progress of the Global Tree Assessment towards our goal of an IUCN Red List assessment for every tree species with a focus on Central America and the Caribbean. However completing IUCN Red List assessments isn’t enough. Tree extinctions can only be avoided if the best possible information is available and then used to inform conservation decisions made by practitioners, policy makers and funders.

PLAN

Conservation action can be planned at species level but also at the national, regional and taxonomic group levels. All together, resources as made available by BGCI including the Global Tree Portal, Conservation Action Tracker, Recovery Plans, national conservation planning work and taxonomic group-level conservation planning, inform the selection of priority sites and species to develop integrated tree conservation initiatives and funding applications. Ground surveys are  key to updating the information on baseline populations and understanding of threats and ecology for the species to enable the development of recovery plans.

ACT

The information available through the Global Tree Assessment is crucial to guide tree conservation action. While the challenges and scale of the problem in maintaining tree diversity are significant, the Global Trees Campaign initiative has worked to conserve over 400 threatened tree species in more than 50 countries. These projects carry out direct tree conservation action, collaborating closely with local partners worldwide. The full engagement and participation of local stakeholders is key to the success and lasting impact of all tree conservation initiatives. Technical challenges can be multiple and complex, building stakeholder capacity and partnerships facilitates the sharing of experiences, improves practices and increases success. We will showcase examples of tree conservation projects currently being implemented in the  Central American and Caribbean region in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti and Puerto Rico.

MONITOR

Project monitoring is the routine collection and analysis of information about project progress and whether expected results are being achieved. To track progress annually, BGCI has developed a thorough system of monitoring and evaluation where project activities are reviewed and amended  as necessary,  based on new findings or on unforeseen events, including natural and man-made hazards and changes.

An example of integrated conservation encompassing the Prioritise-Plan-Act-Monitor framework are the Global Conservation Consortia. The global botanic garden community is establishing a series of consortia of specialists with knowledge of genera that are technically challenging to conserve and manage. Eight such consortia have been established to date, including for cycads, and Magnolia. The Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia (GCCM), led by Atlanta Botanical Garden, is a coordinated network of institutions and experts who work collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive conservation strategy to prevent extinction of the world’s Magnolia species.

Collaboration is needed to most effectively conserve the world’s tree species. Strengthening the networks already in place, sharing of  information and experiences and developing new partnerships is key to protecting the region’s unique tree flora.